Standing In The Shadows: Part 3

by Bounce

~ Jubilee crouched on the roof, one of the trainers next to her. The slim, black-haired man pointed down at a man entering a shop. "His name is Richard Walker. He is 39 and has a wife called Sarah. They have two young children, May and Timmy. The children are three and five. Timmy will have his sixth birthday tomorrow. Richard is buying him his presents right now. I want you to kill Richard."

Jubilee stared down at the man, Richard. He was fat and moved slowly. She felt sick at the thought of killing him. Wanted to say no and refuse to do it.

"Jubilee. Don't think about refusing to do this. Do you still remember what happened to Jam?"

She shuddered. *Oh god. I still have nightmares about what they did to him. * They'd been shown what was left of Jam after. He'd still been alive. He'd just been lying there on the table. There had been so much blood. Jubilee had had no idea that a person could bleed so much and still be alive. They kept Jam alive for weeks. Eventually he went completely insane from the pain. They didn't let die. Not for a long time. "How am I supposed to kill to kill him? I haven't got any weapons with me." Her voice was low, barely audible.

"I don't care. Make it fast and quiet. No powers."

Jubilee nodded and settled down to wait. There was a small alley a few hundred meters away. She could ambush Richard there. She wanted to ask why the trainer had told her so much about the target. *He seems like a good person. He has a family. I don't want to do this. I really don't. *

He spent a long time in the toyshop. Eventually he emerged, carrying a large parcel, held in two plastic bags that had been taped together. It looked heavy and he was having trouble carrying it. Jubilee got to feet and followed him. A silent figure moving unnoticed across the rooftops. She reached the ally and leapt catching the railing on a balcony three floors below. Another drop and she was perched on the fire escape at the entrance to the ally. Richard stumbled slightly and reached the corner. She slipped off her perch and landed hard, feet slamming into his chest and head. Richard dropped like a stone. She reached out one hand grabbing his tie and the other his belt and quickly dragged him into the shadows. The fat man was unconscious and made little gurgling noises as he breathed. There was blood on his face. Jubilee pulled back one hand and paused for a moment. * I can't do this. I can't. * The trainers voice echoed in her mind. 'Do you still remember what happened to Jam?'. She slammed the heel of her right hand into his nose. There was a wet crunch and fragments of bone and cartilage were driven into his brain. Richard gave an odd jerk, a shuddering out breath and died.

She slipped out and snatched up his parcel. Her hands left dark smears on the plastic bag. Jubilee dumped it in a large wheelie bin. She dragged the body further down the ally and left him covered in bags of garbage.

Her hands had smears of blood on them. Her shirt felt wet in one or two places. * Oh god. I killed him. I killed him. He had a family and I killed him. *

She shook uncontrollably. Jubilee gagged and suddenly vomited. Bile splashed onto her shoes. Suddenly a hand slammed into the middle of her back, knocking her forward into the pool of vomit. Jubilee twisted around to see the trainer staring down at her.

"You hesitated. You don't ever hesitate. Remember?" He'd been laughing when they were shown Jam. The trainer raised a leg and slammed a kick out at her.~

Lee gasped and shot out of her bed. She crouched in the middle of the room, knives held in each hand. She frowned, hearing only the mansion's normal nighttime sounds. Someone was snoring lightly nearby. Wolverine snored with a deeper rasping sound. She could hear him too.

Lee shook her head. *It was just a dream. *

She sank down against her bed, knees drawn up to her chest. "Uhhh." Lee dropped her head onto her raised knees. *It was just a dream Lee. So I killed him? So what? I killed plenty of other people and I don't get all fucked up over them. * She scrunched her closed, trying to stop the tears. He had had blue eyes. The blood had stained her sleeves. "Uhhh." Lee sobbed quietly.

She sat up after a few minutes. "So I fucking killed him? So what? I did what I had to do." Lee stood up and walked into the half bath attached to her room. "I did what I had to do." This time it was barely a whisper. She'd spent the last eight years learning just that. Do what you have to do. Do it until you don't care anymore and the targets become so many pieces of meat. Till they were nothing but breathing meat.

Lee quickly scrubbed her face clean of the last traces of the tears. She walked back into her room and tugged on the first clothes that came to hand. Lee wrinkled her nose in disgust at the colors: Bright blue pants, neon green T-shirt and *yellow* runners. *I have to get some new clothes.*

A bird began to chirp outside. Lee glanced over at the clock, mildly surprised to see it was already 6:14. She shrugged and decided to head downstairs for some breakfast.

Lee frowned at the contents of the fridge. Two containers of pasta, no sauce, some dried out pizza, several vegetables and a bottle of coke. She swung the fridge door shut and picked up a box of cereal instead. She sat down at the table and began to eat. Lee had just finished her first bowl when Scott walked into the kitchen.

"Ah. Good morning Ju-sorry Lee."

"Mornin' Scott." The red-visored man began to make himself a pot of coffee.

"Lee, I was wondering if you would care to join us in the Danger Room this morning. Sort of a re-evaluation so that the rest of us can find out how much your skills have progressed."

Lee frowned, thinking. * It would be good for the X-Men to have some sort of an idea of what I can do. Definitely better for them to find out now than when someone's life depends on me.* She nodded. "All right Scott. Seven o'clock isn't it?"

He nodded.

"I'll see you then. I just have to get myself a new uniform first." Lee stood up and dumped her empty bowl in the sink.

* * * * * * * *

Lee stood in front of the Shiar Clothes synthesizer. * I think I can still remember how to use this.* She moved around to stand in front of the machine's keyboard. The Shiar had installed an English interface when they had given the X-Men the device. * Okay. So how do I turn it on?*

A footstep sounded behind her and Lee turned to see Rogue entering the room. "Want some help designing it sugar?"

Lee nodded. "Yeah."

Rogue reached out and turned the synthesizer on. "I want it to be a flat charcoal gray. No reflections or shiny stuff." She paused for a moment and studied the design Rogue had created. Lee winced. It was sleeveless and had large cutouts running down the sides.

"Make it long sleeved without any cutouts. And could you add some body armor? On the legs and arms and neck?"

"How's this?"

Lee nodded. "That's good. I like it. Can I play with it for a bit?" Rogue obediently moved out of the way so she could get at the keyboard. Lee added sheathes for throwing knives on both arms. More were hung at her waist and tucked into the top of each boot. She also designed in several slim pockets that sat on the inside of her belt. These would hold throwing stars. She placed hollow seams that would contain wires on the outside of her arms and legs. Lastly Lee added a series of hollow points in the shoulder pads of her armor. She had a set of poisoned needles which would fit in them.

"It's all ready Rogue."

Lee stepped onto the small platform and quickly stripped to her underwear. The uniform began to form in strips that criss-crossed her body. They were ever so slightly warm and felt somewhat slimy. The strips began to join and blend together until Lee was covered from neck to ankles in a layer of unstable molecules. The machine produced the boots separately. It had had to be reprogrammed to do so because so many of the X-Men had found the sensation of shoes forming onto their skin unsettling. She picked up the boots and quickly tugged them on before moving out into the open where Rogue could see her.

Rogue's mouth dropped open. "It's different to yoah last uniform."

Lee glanced down at herself. The dark gray and black of her uniform seemed to fade into the shadows in the corners of the room. They somber colors also emphasized the rich golden color of her skin and the blue black tones in her hair.

"I like it." She shrugged softly, getting used to the feel of the costume. "C'mon Rogue. I want to get a few things from the armory before the session starts.

Lee walked into the armory and paused on the threshold. Both Scott and Xavier tried to make sure there was a wide range of weapons here for those times the X-Men felt the need to do weapons training. She quickly moved down the aisles between the racks of weaponry, selecting various objects that she quickly slipped into the pockets and pouches in her uniform.

She rejoined Rogue a minute or two later, bristling with hidden weaponry. Lee glanced over at the rack nearest the door and grinned when she saw the high-powered laser rifles stacked on it. She snagged one on her way out of the room.

Rogue's eyes widened at he site of all the weaponry. "Ah you sue you'll need that much?"

"Yeah. I usually carry more than this, though. I need to find a place in the city which does custom weapons work. I don't like the balance on either the knives or the stars." *It's good to be carrying again. I felt so naked yesterday."*

Lee walked into the Danger Room's control Centre and paused as the X-Men gaped at her new uniform.

"You like it?" the corners of Lee's mouth twisted into a half smile.

Bobby grinned at her and gave a low wolf whistle. Logan just smiled and nodded at her.

Remy blinked. "Cherie, dis costume is so different from de last one you 'ad."

Lee nodded. "Well it should be shouldn't it?"

Jean and Betsy were frowning. Lee wondered what they were picking up off her and decided it didn't really matter. Her shields were at full strength, so there wasn't anything she could do about it anyway.

Scott looked over at her. "Lee, I'm going to have you run through a program that will put you up against holographic projections of the X-Men. Your aim will be to evade and escape them until the scenario ends."

"So I just have to avoid them? I'm not allowed to take them down or try to defend myself?" *That does make it a bit harder>*

Scott shook his head. "No. All I want is for you to try and avoid them until the timer goes. You can use any methods necessary to do that. And I don't want you taking the gun in there. This isn't supposed to be a test of you marksmanship, just your fighting skills."

*It sounds fair enough. And it should be fun, fighting a bunch of holograms like this.* "All right. Just give me a minute to stretch will you? I need to work some of the kinks out of my muscles."

Lee turned and walked out the door into the Danger Room proper. She dropped the gun onto an empty chair as she left.

She answered Scott's questioning gaze with "You wanted me to do it without a gun. If I take one in with me I'll use it." He mumbled something in reply.

Lee stretched out in the middle of the Danger Rooms floor. She was careful to extend each stretch until she felt her muscles pull and tighten, moving with the careless, deadly grace she had learned so ling ago.

She waved up at Scott after several minutes. "Ya wanna start the program now?"

A moment later the whole room began to shimmer and blur. Dark shapes began to appear around her. Skyscrapers. This was a city then. The smell of rotting garbage and other, worse things wafted out of a nearby alley. Sirens blared in the distance and someone screamed. Lee found herself standing in a narrow street lined with overflowing garbage bins and old wrecks of cars. There was a rusting fire escape ladder running down the side of one of the nearby buildings and the area looked tired and run down. Lee had begun to move back into the shadows the moment the simulation began to appear. She was glad she had as Storm's Voice rang out over the room's speakers.

"Lee, the holographic simulations of the X-Men will be appearing in the Danger Room in just under three minutes."

Rogue's voice chimed in. "Good luck sugar." Someone else laughed softly in the background.

Lee gave a quick nod towards the Control Room before using her amplified telepathy to contact Jean. *::Jean, tell them I got the message. I'll be ready by the time the sims appear.::*

Lee darted across the street and quickly swarmed up the fire escape. She needed to get to high ground so that she had a better idea of how the city was laid out. She also didn't want to have to deal with whole team at once and was somewhat more comfortable with the thought of having only the flyers to deal with. She crouched low in the lee of the low ridge around the rooftop. The city stretched as far as she could see in all directions, huge skyscrapers blocking out the cloudy sky and far into the distance more towers climbed up a range of hills. Lee estimated the hills were at least forty miles away. She frowned, noticing that all the buildings were towering skyscrapers. She didn't see a single building under about five stories anywhere. The sides of some of the buildings had the remains of brightly-lit billboards on them, just a few glowing spots of light and neon amid the dark buildings. The feeling of the city being tired and rundown was even more prevalent seven floors above the street. Lee noticed that every building had at least half of the windows broken.

The air crackled with electricity and Lee dived to one side out of the way of the large bolt of lightning that struck the roof right where she had been standing only an instant before. Storm swooped down towards her. Lee slipped out of the way and dodged another lightning bolt. She pulled a knife from on of her wrist sheaths. Holding it concealed in her hand, Lee sidestepped and circled around the hovering Storm.

Lee positioned herself next to the fire escape. *I hope this Storm is programmed to react the same way the real one would.* Lee flipped the knife into a throwing grip and hurled it at Storm. In all the time Lee had known the woman she had yet to see Ororo dodge an object if it could be deflected with a gust of wind instead. Storm didn't disappoint her. The tall woman sent a blast of wind towards Lee, throwing the knife off course. Lee slipped and fell from the side of the roof.

*I'll only get one shot ant this.*Lee began to count the seconds as she fell.* One. Two. Two and a half. Now!* Lee's left arm snaked out catching hold of the railing at the side of the fire escape.

"Unhh" she curled into a ball and forced herself to swing in towards the wall. Lee's feet slammed into the crumbling brick wall if the building and she reached out with her other hand to get a better grip on the rusting ironwork. The was a blast of wind and Storm dove past her headed for the ground, following the path Lee should have taken. Lee dropped from her perch, feet landing in the small of Storm's back. One hand slid under the woman's belt and Lee snagged a new hold on the fire escape. She tugged the semi-conscious woman onto the balcony and pressed her thumbs into the pressure points on the sides of her neck. Storm was out within three seconds.

The computer generated image faded from site as soon as it was taken out of the fight. *One down. A whole lot more to go.*

Lee dropped to the ground and moved down the side street towards a larger road she had seen from the roof. There was a slight scuffing sound from an alley just ahead. Heavy breathing too, as though whoever it was unable to remain silent for so long. Lee frowned concentrating. She thought she could feel cold emanating from the mouth of the alley. * It'll be Bobby then.* She stopped just before the entrance to the alley and stooped snatching up an empty beer bottle. She hurled it past Bobby and heard it shatter against something further down the lane. Lee took his moment of distraction and shot into the alley, dropping him with a single well placed blow.

She dove to one side as Gambit dropped down almost on top of her and came up fighting. The tall thief swung his Bo-staff at her midsection. Lee dodged to one side and slapped the blow away with the heel of her palm. She gave a quick skip up, bringing her within striking range and aimed a round kick at Gambit's head. He countered with an inside middle block and two quick jabs at her face, followed by an overhand staff blow. Lee backpedaled quickly and one hand shot up, following the staff's course. She grabbed hold of the end the moment Remy arrested its downward swing and twisted her hip pulling it toward her body. Remy slammed a kick out at her. She raised a leg to block it and snapped a suedo chop into his inner elbow. The blow caused Remy to loose his grip on the staff. Lee tossed the staff away from the two of them and pivoted on her back foot, spinning into a back kick. Remy managed to grab hold of her foot and thrust it upwards, aiming to knock her off balance. Lee twisted into a flip and landed in a fighting stance.

Remy gave a quick skip up, which brought him into range and lashed out with a series of back-knuckle strikes aimed at Lee's face. She blocked two, sidestepped and moved inside his guard. Lee thrust a lightning fast ridge hand towards his throat. He blocked it easily and pulled Lee in closer, tossing an elbow strike out at her gut. Lee twisted, and managed to deflect the blow onto her upper arm. Remy back stepped and dropped into a deeper fighting stance, weight low and forward onto his toes. The two began to circle each other, watching and testing for weaknesses in the technique. Lee darted forward, feinting with a set of punches and suedo's to Remy's face, aiming to draw his guard up. She snapped out a front kick. He blocked it. And followed up with a step-up sidekick that Lee dodged. Lee leapt and kicked out at his head with a showy jump crescent kick. Remy ducked and the kick passed harmlessly over his head. He came up inside her guard with a short jab followed by a ridge hand at her solar plexus. Lee barely managed to block it.

She scooted back out of range and shook the sweat from her forehead. Lee raised her guard hand and shifted her weight to her front foot, the set position for a skip-up round kick. Lee lunged forward, covering the distance between Remy and herself in one step and slammed the ;kick out at him. Remy blocked it with his shoulder and landed a stinging blow on the inside of Lee's thigh. Lee put a reasonably weak uppercut into his stomach and tried to follow up with an eye gouge. Remy blocked it with an upper block reverse punch combination. Lee twisted away from the punch and aimed a suedo chop at the side of Remy's neck. He slid back out of the way and then lunged forwards aiming a hook kick at the small of Lee's back. She drove an elbow into the side of knee, just above the joint and grunted as the diminished blow thudded into the small of her back. Remy lashed out with a wide sweeping crescent kick that was telegraphed a mile off and gave a quick pulpaqua, changing feet in mid step. He followed up immediately with a reverse round kick, which Lee managed to take on her shoulder.

She slipped in, thrusting his leg into the air, forcing Remy off balance and lashed out with a quick snap kick to his groin. Remy dropped like a stone, gasping for breath, and eyes watering. Lee dropped to a low stance beside him and landed a good reverse punch on the tip of his jaw. The computer simulation of Remy faded form view.

Lee paused and gasped for breath. She could have ended the fight with Remy much sooner if she had used lethal blows. *They're just computer simulations. There really isn't any reason why I shouldn't use those strikes.* Lee began to trot out of the alley, as the fight had had been noisy and had doubtlessly attracted the rest of the X-Men.

She blinked at the sound of wings beating overhead and leapt straight up, catching hold of Warren's leg. Lee tugged herself upwards, one hand tangling in the winged man's hair. The other pulled a knife from her belt. Lee reversed the grip and slammed her weighted fist into Angel's temple. She kicked out, arching through the air t land on the roof of a car. Lee leapt again, arching away form the red energy signature of Cyclops' optic blast. She hurled a throwing star in the opposite direction to him, catching Jean full in the throat. Scott pivoted at the dying simulation's scream, turning his attention away form her for one moment too long. Lee hurled another star, aiming at Scott this time. The X-Man died. The computer generated images of their bodies shimmered and faded away. Lee frowned. Betsy, Rogue, Bishop and Logan were still unaccounted for. *Crap. I'm getting tired and those four are all real dangerous.*

Lee gasped and ducked as Rogue dove down on her. She just barely managed to get out of the way. Rogue turned ant shot back at her. Lee countered with a blast of her 'fireworks' aimed at Rogue's face and eyes. The woman was flying blind and slammed into a nearby building. Something slammed into her back and Lee dimly heard the crack of a gun being fired. A moment later Logan's fist connected with her face and everything went blank.