A Bottle Can't Hold You
folder
X-Men - Animated Series (all) › General
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
9
Views:
2,827
Reviews:
6
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
X-Men - Animated Series (all) › General
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
9
Views:
2,827
Reviews:
6
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
Disclaimer Haiku: Kurt and the X-Men/ I own nothing related/ I make no money.
An Exercise in Survival
AN: Since I'm releasing these without a beta, I appreciate any and all corrections by those of you who feel so inclined. I am also sticking to my pledge to respond personally to every review I get; the more thorough the review, the longer my response. Good critiques are beyond treasured.
Spade: Thanks for the corrections in my German, and I'm glad you like the story! There will be a few more chapters of action before we get the explanation for his drinking, but I've already got the start of it in chapter 8, which is coming as soon as I can get the time to reformat these and upload.
Wir: Thanks for the encouragement! Whether the Wolverine's rehab will be necessary or not remains to be seen, but here's the next chapter.
If anyone wants to say anything without leaving a review, send me an email: foley.mark54@gmail.com.
Chapter 6: An Exercise in Survival
Kurt was barely staying alive.
As simulations went, this one was by no means as ridiculous as some of the ones Scott had put his teammates through; still, the restrictions on his powers made this exercise pure hell. Nightcrawler was already sporting a layer of bruises across his entire body, as well as a few gashes that were just short of requiring stitches. Everyone seemed to have forgotten that Logan liked to add elements of real danger into the simulations— until a few minutes ago.
Ray was lying on the floor in a heap, the first of the students to be knocked unconscious, and Bobby and Jubilee were crumpled side by side where each had tried in vain to save the other.
In true minimalist style, Logan had turned the sparse landscape of the Danger Room into a scene fit for nightmares. The garish overhead lights flickered on and off, keeping anyone’s eyes from adjusting to either extreme, while the roar of some kind of machinery drowned out all but the loudest shouts. A few large cargo containers were the only cover the students had from the whirling claws, the tentacles that sought them out wherever they ran.
The X-Men were in trouble.
“TWO MINUTES REMAIN,” a pleasant female voice announced, utterly incongruous with the hellish situation. Kurt looked around to see who was still holding out.
Spyke was managing to dodge most of the attacks directed at him, and had shepherded Amara and Rahne close to him so that he could keep an eye on them. Still, the strain of protecting three people at once was beginning to wear on him; no longer could he dodge with the agility he had had just minutes ago. A three-pronged attack by the tentacles put him out of commission with a blow to the side of the head, and the two younger and more inexperienced students quickly fell into a trap laid by cannon fire. Both landed heavily, twitching as their bodies tried to process the electric shock.
All things considered, Kitty and Rogue were fending quite well for themselves; forming an impromptu partnership, they guarded one another fiercely, leapfrogging and using each other to counterbalance for otherwise impossible dodges. Kurt fought back a smile and tried to remain focused on those who truly needed his help. Those girls would be fine.
After a few hits had spawned multiples, the Danger Room’s AI had learned about the involuntary nature of Jamie’s mutation, and so it had thus far refrained from attacking him further. A single tendril hovered over him, menacing him and keeping him isolated from the group, until it came up with a solution.
A muffled cry came from Jamie as he was lifted into the air by a tentacle wrapping around his chest and throat. Kurt, seeing the youngest member of his team in danger, sprang forward with a growl bordering on feral. He ran on all fours and leapt high into the air, catching Jamie’s boot and causing the metal tentacle to drop back to the ground under the unexpected weight. Seizing the opportunity, Nightcrawler tried with all his strength to unwrap the length of machinery that was choking Jamie, but to no avail. He watched helplessly as the boy who had barely reached his teen years rolled up his eyes and went limp.
As Jamie sank to the floor, the tentacle immediately released its hold, uncoiling itself and taking Kurt with it in a violent arc. A few more revolutions dislodged his grip, and he went flying into the side of a cargo container, denting it with the impact.
Kurt’s head swam and he couldn’t seem to draw a breath, but he fought to stay conscious. There had to be some way to ride this out, some way to keep at least the younger students safe…
Golden eyes fell upon the door to the cargo container. It was locked, but if he could get it open, some of them could take cover inside.
He tried to shout, but his attempt only produced a fit of coughing. Dropping to one knee and bracing himself on his fist, he began banging on the side of the container, hoping the noise would draw his teammates’ attention.
Jean, standing nearby, was the first to notice, and Scott immediately turned to look at the container even though he was too far away to have possibly heard the pounding. It seemed Jean was using her powers, but only to help out her fiancé. That made sense; she always saw herself as above the rules, and Scott would deny any wrongdoing on her part until hell froze and thawed twice.
Shadowcat and Rogue began weaving their way over, dancing about and evading a hail of beanbag rounds shooting from the cannons at nearly bone-breaking velocity. The pair reached him just after Jean.
“Quick, your hair pins!” Kurt shouted to Kitty.
The brunette reached up to her hair and pulled the pins out, handing them over as her bangs fell into her eyes. She had recently taken to wearing all of her hair back, and Kurt was secretly glad to see the bangs again.
Nightcrawler immediately set to picking the padlock on the door with a dexterity that belied his three-fingered hands. In a matter of seconds, the lock clicked open, and he set to working the two heavy latches that held the door closed.
As the doors creaked open, Kurt and the others began shouting for anyone still conscious to get inside. Jean entered the container, and Kitty and Rogue took shelter behind the relative safety of the open door. Scott came running as soon as he saw the door opening, and in doing so left Sam’s back uncovered. Cannonball was soon hoisted into the air by a claw and thrown back down to the ground with enough force to make him skid several feet upon landing. He did not get up.
Roberto dove into the container and collapsed to the cold steel floor, wheezing with exhaustion. Kitty knelt down to check his injuries, thankfully finding nothing serious.
Cyclops was approaching, but Kurt saw one of the cannons drawing a bead on the team leader; Scott wasn’t weaving or dodging at all, which made him an easy target. Nightcrawler began bounding out to tackle him down to safety as a beanbag flew straight for Scott’s head. But at the last second, the beanbag made an erratic turn, curving off to smack against the side of another cargo container.
Nightcrawler looked back at Jean, who fixed him with a supercilious smile. She was cheating, and she knew he knew. But would he dare to call her on it? With a growl, Kurt bounded back towards the container as the voice announced the start of the final minute.
Scott made it into the container before Kurt, and began shutting the door. A solid kick to the codpiece from Rogue and a knee to the face from Kitty meant that an unconscious Cyclops left the door ajar for Kurt to enter. As he approached the container, however, he noticed a set of tentacles wriggling their way towards the opening, and so he threw himself against the door and barred it, ignoring the protests from the other side.
The tentacles, seemingly angered at having lost the majority of their prey, began racing after Kurt. He leapt and grabbed the top of the container, and pulled himself up to better survey how he was going to survive the remaining forty seconds of the simulation.
A scream from the far corner of the Danger Room altered his plans considerably.
Tabitha was huddled in the corner, tears leaving long black streaks of mascara down her face. Around her, a trio mobile turrets was closing in, all escape routes long since cut off. They were moving in for a guaranteed elimination.
Leaping from container to container, Kurt rushed to aid Tabitha, praying that he got to her in time.
“THIRTY SECONDS REMAIN.”
The turrets stopped at a distance of no more than ten feet from the terrified girl; a shot from any of those cannons would be sure to cause serious damage. And they were all aiming directly for her head.
Nightcrawler gave a defiant shout and hurled himself off of the final container, landing on top of Tabitha.
Three beanbags slammed into the space where Boom-Boom’s head had been just fractions of a second earlier. The blonde looked up at Kurt, eyes now shining with tears of gratitude.
“Y’know, Blue,” she said in a quavering voice, “That’s kind of a dramatic way to say you want to be on top, but I don’t mind. Really.”
“TWENTY SECONDS REMAIN.”
The announcer’s voice brought Kurt back to a harsh realization: the turrets were all realigning to point downward. Shoving Tabby roughly into the corner, he shielded her as best he could with his own body.
Moments later, his world became pure pain.
Three cannons bombarded him mercilessly, bags slamming into him, beating out an evil tattoo. He would have screamed if he could have; only a pained gurgling gasp would escape.
“TEN.”
He had to hold on.
“NINE.”
It would be over soon.
“EIGHT.”
Oh Gott it hurt so much!
“SEVEN.”
Just… a bit… longer…
“SIX.”
Black descended.
Spade: Thanks for the corrections in my German, and I'm glad you like the story! There will be a few more chapters of action before we get the explanation for his drinking, but I've already got the start of it in chapter 8, which is coming as soon as I can get the time to reformat these and upload.
Wir: Thanks for the encouragement! Whether the Wolverine's rehab will be necessary or not remains to be seen, but here's the next chapter.
If anyone wants to say anything without leaving a review, send me an email: foley.mark54@gmail.com.
Chapter 6: An Exercise in Survival
Kurt was barely staying alive.
As simulations went, this one was by no means as ridiculous as some of the ones Scott had put his teammates through; still, the restrictions on his powers made this exercise pure hell. Nightcrawler was already sporting a layer of bruises across his entire body, as well as a few gashes that were just short of requiring stitches. Everyone seemed to have forgotten that Logan liked to add elements of real danger into the simulations— until a few minutes ago.
Ray was lying on the floor in a heap, the first of the students to be knocked unconscious, and Bobby and Jubilee were crumpled side by side where each had tried in vain to save the other.
In true minimalist style, Logan had turned the sparse landscape of the Danger Room into a scene fit for nightmares. The garish overhead lights flickered on and off, keeping anyone’s eyes from adjusting to either extreme, while the roar of some kind of machinery drowned out all but the loudest shouts. A few large cargo containers were the only cover the students had from the whirling claws, the tentacles that sought them out wherever they ran.
The X-Men were in trouble.
“TWO MINUTES REMAIN,” a pleasant female voice announced, utterly incongruous with the hellish situation. Kurt looked around to see who was still holding out.
Spyke was managing to dodge most of the attacks directed at him, and had shepherded Amara and Rahne close to him so that he could keep an eye on them. Still, the strain of protecting three people at once was beginning to wear on him; no longer could he dodge with the agility he had had just minutes ago. A three-pronged attack by the tentacles put him out of commission with a blow to the side of the head, and the two younger and more inexperienced students quickly fell into a trap laid by cannon fire. Both landed heavily, twitching as their bodies tried to process the electric shock.
All things considered, Kitty and Rogue were fending quite well for themselves; forming an impromptu partnership, they guarded one another fiercely, leapfrogging and using each other to counterbalance for otherwise impossible dodges. Kurt fought back a smile and tried to remain focused on those who truly needed his help. Those girls would be fine.
After a few hits had spawned multiples, the Danger Room’s AI had learned about the involuntary nature of Jamie’s mutation, and so it had thus far refrained from attacking him further. A single tendril hovered over him, menacing him and keeping him isolated from the group, until it came up with a solution.
A muffled cry came from Jamie as he was lifted into the air by a tentacle wrapping around his chest and throat. Kurt, seeing the youngest member of his team in danger, sprang forward with a growl bordering on feral. He ran on all fours and leapt high into the air, catching Jamie’s boot and causing the metal tentacle to drop back to the ground under the unexpected weight. Seizing the opportunity, Nightcrawler tried with all his strength to unwrap the length of machinery that was choking Jamie, but to no avail. He watched helplessly as the boy who had barely reached his teen years rolled up his eyes and went limp.
As Jamie sank to the floor, the tentacle immediately released its hold, uncoiling itself and taking Kurt with it in a violent arc. A few more revolutions dislodged his grip, and he went flying into the side of a cargo container, denting it with the impact.
Kurt’s head swam and he couldn’t seem to draw a breath, but he fought to stay conscious. There had to be some way to ride this out, some way to keep at least the younger students safe…
Golden eyes fell upon the door to the cargo container. It was locked, but if he could get it open, some of them could take cover inside.
He tried to shout, but his attempt only produced a fit of coughing. Dropping to one knee and bracing himself on his fist, he began banging on the side of the container, hoping the noise would draw his teammates’ attention.
Jean, standing nearby, was the first to notice, and Scott immediately turned to look at the container even though he was too far away to have possibly heard the pounding. It seemed Jean was using her powers, but only to help out her fiancé. That made sense; she always saw herself as above the rules, and Scott would deny any wrongdoing on her part until hell froze and thawed twice.
Shadowcat and Rogue began weaving their way over, dancing about and evading a hail of beanbag rounds shooting from the cannons at nearly bone-breaking velocity. The pair reached him just after Jean.
“Quick, your hair pins!” Kurt shouted to Kitty.
The brunette reached up to her hair and pulled the pins out, handing them over as her bangs fell into her eyes. She had recently taken to wearing all of her hair back, and Kurt was secretly glad to see the bangs again.
Nightcrawler immediately set to picking the padlock on the door with a dexterity that belied his three-fingered hands. In a matter of seconds, the lock clicked open, and he set to working the two heavy latches that held the door closed.
As the doors creaked open, Kurt and the others began shouting for anyone still conscious to get inside. Jean entered the container, and Kitty and Rogue took shelter behind the relative safety of the open door. Scott came running as soon as he saw the door opening, and in doing so left Sam’s back uncovered. Cannonball was soon hoisted into the air by a claw and thrown back down to the ground with enough force to make him skid several feet upon landing. He did not get up.
Roberto dove into the container and collapsed to the cold steel floor, wheezing with exhaustion. Kitty knelt down to check his injuries, thankfully finding nothing serious.
Cyclops was approaching, but Kurt saw one of the cannons drawing a bead on the team leader; Scott wasn’t weaving or dodging at all, which made him an easy target. Nightcrawler began bounding out to tackle him down to safety as a beanbag flew straight for Scott’s head. But at the last second, the beanbag made an erratic turn, curving off to smack against the side of another cargo container.
Nightcrawler looked back at Jean, who fixed him with a supercilious smile. She was cheating, and she knew he knew. But would he dare to call her on it? With a growl, Kurt bounded back towards the container as the voice announced the start of the final minute.
Scott made it into the container before Kurt, and began shutting the door. A solid kick to the codpiece from Rogue and a knee to the face from Kitty meant that an unconscious Cyclops left the door ajar for Kurt to enter. As he approached the container, however, he noticed a set of tentacles wriggling their way towards the opening, and so he threw himself against the door and barred it, ignoring the protests from the other side.
The tentacles, seemingly angered at having lost the majority of their prey, began racing after Kurt. He leapt and grabbed the top of the container, and pulled himself up to better survey how he was going to survive the remaining forty seconds of the simulation.
A scream from the far corner of the Danger Room altered his plans considerably.
Tabitha was huddled in the corner, tears leaving long black streaks of mascara down her face. Around her, a trio mobile turrets was closing in, all escape routes long since cut off. They were moving in for a guaranteed elimination.
Leaping from container to container, Kurt rushed to aid Tabitha, praying that he got to her in time.
“THIRTY SECONDS REMAIN.”
The turrets stopped at a distance of no more than ten feet from the terrified girl; a shot from any of those cannons would be sure to cause serious damage. And they were all aiming directly for her head.
Nightcrawler gave a defiant shout and hurled himself off of the final container, landing on top of Tabitha.
Three beanbags slammed into the space where Boom-Boom’s head had been just fractions of a second earlier. The blonde looked up at Kurt, eyes now shining with tears of gratitude.
“Y’know, Blue,” she said in a quavering voice, “That’s kind of a dramatic way to say you want to be on top, but I don’t mind. Really.”
“TWENTY SECONDS REMAIN.”
The announcer’s voice brought Kurt back to a harsh realization: the turrets were all realigning to point downward. Shoving Tabby roughly into the corner, he shielded her as best he could with his own body.
Moments later, his world became pure pain.
Three cannons bombarded him mercilessly, bags slamming into him, beating out an evil tattoo. He would have screamed if he could have; only a pained gurgling gasp would escape.
“TEN.”
He had to hold on.
“NINE.”
It would be over soon.
“EIGHT.”
Oh Gott it hurt so much!
“SEVEN.”
Just… a bit… longer…
“SIX.”
Black descended.