47 Jean Grey

There was an unnatural intensity to today's training.

That much was clear to Scott from the outset.

Something was different about the way the others were committing themselves to training.

No, it was just one person doing something differently, the simple act bringing up the entire vibe of the room in the process.

That person?

Bobby.

Unlike Hank and Warren, Bobby had only ever joined the training as a means to fit in, going with the flow and only doing as much as was necessary to pass. He never truly pushed himself that hard, just going through the motions and was often distracted by other things on his mind. It was not unexpected, compared to the three of them, Bobby was just like any ordinary seventeen-year-old. His mind was focused on things not all that important, just only what he was interested in.

Yet today was different.

As always, Hank was taking to the intensity of the exercise with ease. His coaches at Bard College had known exactly what they were doing and worked their hardest to make Hank a star player. When adding Hank's own intelligence, it made it very easy for Scott to push Hank's physical limits because Hank was doing that task for him. However, the problems came when it came to the type of exercises and drills Hank was doing, they were unfamiliar and alien to him.

There was no studying passage of plays.

No preparation to beat defenders.

This type of training was to purely build up his awareness by going through a series of dangerous obstacle courses filled with deadly traps. There was a natural fear to be had when facing such traps and it was that fear which was proving to be a major obstacle for Hank to overcome. He had all the physical abilities and awareness to progress rapidly up the levels of difficulty. But he was held back by his own inability to overcome the fear that clouded his mind.

Though today, he had managed to break through two levels.

Warren was excelling as always.

He had experience with these things, his prior time as the Avenging Angel in New York had allowed him to overcome that fear that held back Hank. As a result, the various traps and deadly weapons that came his way proved nowhere near as scary as a loaded gun being aimed at him. This allowed him to soar through the courses with ease, rapidly progressing through the levels and leaving both Hank and Bobby behind.

His biggest problem came in the fact that he was unused to training with such intensity. All of his life, Warren had excelled, rarely needing to put much effort into anything in order to become one of the best, a natural prodigy. But this had led to him developing a certain laziness that was making it especially difficult for him to train on the level Scott was pushing him to.

He didn't like not working on his own terms.

It was his pride and prior trauma at the hands of Vulture that kept him going though.

Thus, enabling Warren to quickly cement himself as the best amongst the three of them.

Though he still did not come close to Scott, something he had taken careful efforts to prove.

Scott had studied the Danger Room extensively, memorising all of the traps and weapons, their individual settings and so on. From that, he had designed hundreds of routes for the X-Men to progress through, each more dangerous than the last. Bobby was still within the first tier, levels one to ten. Hank was second, in tier two, levels eleven to twenty. Warren meanwhile was pulling ahead at tier four, levels thirty-one to forty.

Scott was outshining them all and on purpose, already on tier ten.

Though he was in actual fact much higher, having completed each level as he designed them just to see if it was possible.

However, much like Hank, Warren was also pushing himself further, nearing tier three and Bobby was almost into tier two. All three boys had an unnatural fire about them as they worked hard in their training, each time one completed a run, the others would work to do the same. Neither was content to be outdone by the others and it was all because of one reason.

Scott didn't look up to the control room, but he knew they were still there by the way Bobby looked up as he moved towards the starting point. It was his turn now and he wanted to make sure they were still looking, or more importantly, that she was still looking.

Jean Grey.

As Scott had long since expected, she was here, ready to train in how to fully use her powers. Her history, from what little Charles had told him and what he had inferred, was mostly unchanged from that of the Jean in Cyclops' world. Yet that was also his biggest concern as well and why he decided to focus on other things for the time being.

Cyclops had loved Jean more than anything.

Yet she had also been the cause of some of his worst pain.

Scott was hesitant to go down a similar path.

No, he couldn't go down the same path because if he did, Scott didn't know whether he'd be able to succeed.

But he could not deny that he wanted to speak with her, see her, be near her. Cyclops influence upon him was clear and it was even more so now that Jean was near. With Wolverine there beside her, those feelings not his own were even stronger and Scott clenched his fist down by his side, focusing his gaze purely upon Bobby as he moved through the Danger Room.

He was moving fast.

Dodging comfortably as well.

But it was big movements, ones that would prove fatal in the later levels.

For now, it was good enough.

His use of powers was small, having only recently been able to enter his Organic Ice-Form and using his powers to freeze obstacles that came his way. The inbuilt heaters that Scott had worked to improve the output, melting the ice slowly allowing Bobby to keep moving through mostly unimpeded. At these lower levels, Bobby was mostly untouchable, his powers far too great to be restrained by such things. Yet as the levels progressed, Bobby would find himself struggling and that's when the improvements would begin.

That's when Bobby would start to use his powers in new ways.

-X-

Sitting down comfortably at the table, Scott ignored the chattering of people around him, purely focused on his notepad as he continued to write down some more notes. School had begun anew once more and he found himself again back in Bayville, though he didn't mind it all that much. Training constantly was not a good thing, it could lead to more harm than good after a while. Plus, school was where he was often left alone, able to focus on planning his next steps with people caring little about talking with him.

At the moment there was little for the X-Men to do as Scott did not feel comfortable in taking them out on missions, nor did Charles.

The main reason was Hank and Bobby.

Those two were the weak links of the X-Men on account of their own reasons. Their mission to free Bobby had nearly been a failure on a few occasions as a result of Hank's hesitation, putting Warren and all of them in danger. As for Bobby, his attitude to training was answer enough as to why Scott did not want to go out on a mission with them yet.

They needed more time.

So, his plans for the future needed to be put on hold unless something serious happened in which case he would handle it himself. At this stage of time and with his current set of skills, Scott was confident in being able to handle much of the threats alone, the major ones currently being in New York besides those being handled by the Fantastic Four. But there, Scott had Peter and the Morlocks so that was of no concern to him as he would have means to gain backup if it was necessary.

However, the tasks he required the X-Men for were not yet here and so, he could afford to not accelerate them. As a result, he was now focusing purely on the various formations they could use, something that had been especially important for the X-Men, something that separated them from other hero groups such as the Avengers.

Bobby would be their heavy hitter.

He had to be with his power set, not only was he their strongest member but their most versatile. He could fill any role required, a multi-faceted member that could cover numerous areas at once.

Following behind him was Warren, their scout and ambush expert. One who would stall for time and relay information back to them about enemy targets allowing him, their long-range striker to take them out instantly. If need be, he would also be their vanguard, a spot that Scott was thinking of reserving mostly for Bobby.

Then there was Hank, their striker.

He was their physically strongest member and with his improvements in training, he would be a very accomplished and dangerous martial artist. If he were to overcome the mental block as well, then Hank would only become more dangerous and adept.

Finally, there was Jean, the telekinetic.

She had not joined in training yet, having only arrived yesterday and still getting her affairs in order as she settled into life at the Xavier Institute. But when she did, Charles had already made it clear that not only was Jean going to be an X-Men, but also joining their training, Scott already knew where to place her. From his talks with Charles, Scott knew that Jean did not have her telepathy, a big problem but one that he could work around by focusing her efforts on telekinesis. With that, she would, for now, fill a support role, using telekinesis to keep the other members of the X-Men from danger, specifically Hank and himself.

Once her skills improved, then she would be able to take a more offensive-oriented role, whereas for now, she would be purely defensive.

That was the lineup he had decided on for now, but Scott needed individual formations and moves that could elevate them higher. Things that involved certain members working together to pull off a strike and he already had a number in mind. This was precisely what he was writing down, not only keeping a log but also working on ways to develop and improve them.

Once the X-Men had reached a certain level of ability, he would begin to train them in these moves.

It was integral they got ahead of the curve now.

"You've had your head in that book for a while." Bobby said, placing his tray down on the table as he sat across from him. "What you writing?"

"Just some notes for future training." Scott replied, looking up to see Bobby raise a brow.

"Do you ever, I dunno, switch off?"

"Not that I've seen." Warren answered, sitting down beside Scott. "If he's not training or running, he's writing in that book or on his laptop."

Hank also followed, he and Warren sharing a class, sitting down beside Bobby. "Why though?" Bobby asked. "I mean, our training is intense. Why do we need to train that hard?"

Clearly, this was something the three of them had been wondering as all looked to Scott, who sighed and closed his notepad. "Because things are only going to get harder from here on out." Scott indicated to Hank. "You saw what happened when we rescued your parents, didn't you? Those guys I faced. One of them came from Oscorp, I fought him previously when I came to rescue you." Warren stopped chewing at that moment, the food suddenly losing its taste. "He was much stronger the second time around, to the point that I was lucky I had other superpowered foes around that I could use against him. Without them, I would have lost."

Scott tapped his finger against the table, gaze flickering around the canteen and noting a few whispering and gazing their way. They couldn't hear what was being said, but that wasn't what was attracting their attention.

No, it was the unlikely group that had formed.

"The world is getting more dangerous and rapidly." Scott continued. "People are developing ways to fight against Mutants, each having their own agenda when it comes to us. Many do not work out to our benefit and so, if we simply do nothing, we will be at their mercy for the rest of their lives. I don't intend to let that happen and I will do everything I can now to prepare myself and others for the future. Warren, Hank, you've seen it first hand. Bobby, you have yet to, but it's only a matter of time and when you do, I hope I've prepared you enough."